In Brief: NRAI seeks discounts from Zomato, Swiggy; OPPO cancels live online smartphone launch

The national restaurant association of India (NRAI) is in discussion with online food delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato to change commission structure, reduce discounts and levy new fees for deliveries, The Economic Times reported. Restaurants want platforms to bring these changes, and especially do away with ‘forced platform discounting’ in order to sustain operations in post-Covid situation, the report said. Typically, online platforms charge 20-25% of order value as commission, depending on multiple factors like brand, exclusivity and consumer reach. The move comes when the government has allowed limited resumption of dine-in services but restaurants are seeing lower footfall in physical outlets and higher costs for new safety and cleaning measures.

OPPO cancels online launch of flagship smartphone in India

Dongguan, China-based smartphone brand Oppo cancelled the live online launch of its flagship smartphone in India on Wednesday after a border clash between the two countries that has renewed calls from local Indian trader groups to shun Chinese products, Mint reported. Oppo, which has a phone-assembly plant in India, had earlier announced a live unveiling of its new Find X2 smartphone models on Wednesday, the report said. 

L&T Infotech launches return-to-work app for employees

Larsen & Toubro Infotech has launched LTI SafeRadius, a general data protection regulation-compliant return-to-work app to enable employees across industries to get back to work in a phased manner, a statement said. The app provides intuitive operational risk analysis by recording, processing, integrating and presenting data from various sources within and outside an organisation. LTI SafeRadius enables organisations to analyse information on self-serve analytics platform Mosaic Lens, comprehensive reports and visualisation for day-to-day decisions. The app complies with local government norms and guidelines issued by international health organisations. In India, the app is integrated with the government’s Aarogya Setu app through a survey questionnaire.

Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar appointed on Unacademy board of directors

Ed-tech platform Unacademy has appointed Sujeet Kumar, co-founder of Udaan, to its board of directors, a statement said. As a member of the board, he will be advising on operational growth and business strategies.  He is also an investor in Unacademy and has been a mentor for the organisation since its inception. Prior to Udaan, Sujeet headed operations for Flipkart’s largest seller and captive logistics business and played a key role in the growth of the organisation. 

SEBI fines two individuals for leaking market-sensitive information on WhatsApp

Markets regulator securities and exchange board of India (SEBI), earlier this month, penalised two individuals for allegedly sharing unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) relating to the shares of four listed companies on Whatsapp group chats, Inc42 reported. These companies include Wipro, Asian Paints, Bata, and Mindtree. The regulator imposed a penalty of INR 45 lakh and INR 15 lakh, on Shruti Vora and Parthiv Dalal respectively who were part of the Antique Stock Broking sales team. Earlier in 2017, similar cases of information leak on WhatsApp groups regarding Axis Bank, and Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories. 

UiPath adds conversational AI feature to hyperautomation platform

Robotic process automation software company UiPath has added conversational artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to its hyperautomation platform, a statement said. The new features include conversational capabilities for UiPath Robots, chatbots and new automation capabilities. The newer version will enable enterprises to offer scalable, global support experiences that will give their customers access to support whenever they need it on the most popular global messaging channels.

Rainmatter invests in fintech platform GoldenPi

Incubator platform Rainmatter has invested $459,800 in a fintech startup GoldenPi, a statement said. GoldenPi is an online marketplace for retail investors to invest in fixed-income investment options such as bonds and debentures. Founded in 2017 by Abhijit Roy and Samir Pratihar, the platform allows retailers to invest with a minimum investment of Rs 10,000.